“There’s no offers or conversations with Lorient at this moment of time.

“I’ve been looking at players more this week than others. I’ve been out and about looking at them.”

With Sunderland struggling against relegation, Allardyce is looking at a number of players to bolster his squad in the January window and a striker also on his wish-list.

But Sunderland are likely to have limited room for manoeuvre in the window unless they can offload players whom Allardyce has deemed surplus to requirements, and it may be that any arrivals will only sign on loan.